Chapter 9: School of Fish

Thankfully, their bus was able to reach its destination without any other incident. So it turned out her fix was enough to get them far enough. Hastily, they got off the bus to take their luggage into the hotel. The group was a little late, but there would be enough time if they rushed things.

“Great…” Ishi muttered to himself as he entered the room he was staying at. Unsurprisingly, he was going to be stuck with a few boys in his class. Very rowdy boys. Hopefully sleeping wouldn’t be a problem, but it was unlikely with how loud they were talking to each other now.

“Hirose.” One of them wanted to ask him a question. “What’s it like sitting next to Hattori?”

“Annoying.” He answered simply. This was getting on his nerves. It was already bad enough that people designated him as the grump of the school. At least that was on him. But getting to be known as the boy sitting next to a celebrity was the opposite of what he wanted out of high school. “I can’t even enjoy a lunch without you guys, or people from other classes crowding around us.”

“What about during class?” They ignored his obvious irritation. “Maybe you’ve caught a nice peek of something she doesn’t show anyone else.”

“Oh yeah, has she ever dozed off? Have you gotten a look at her sleeping face?”

“Everyone’s so hopeless…” He shook his head in disappointment. “And no, now come on and let’s get back to the others.” After all, they were already late to begin with. Hopefully this conversation wasn’t to continue when it was time to head to bed. But Ishi wasn’t looking forward to an outcome that he’d like.

“Looks like everyone’s here.” Youna said as she looked between the clipboard containing names, and all of the students. “Okay everyone, get together into your assigned groups and follow all of the directions.” At least she was capable of giving out commands. That was one of the biggest worries Ishi had about her being able to rep the class.

“Looks like I’m stuck with you guys.” He walked up to everyone as they were about to leave the hotel.

“Come on.” Otoya wrapped an arm around his shoulder. “Don’t look at it like we’re stuck. More like, be glad we’re united in this together.”

“I ain’t here for your feelgood philosophy.” Ishi responded by brushing the arm off. “Let’s go look at some fish, do some sea life activities and go home.” His friend laughed in response to his aloof attitude. He never took anything he said seriously.

And now they were on their way to the aquarium. Despite being the one least excited for this, Ishi was also the one to be in front of everyone. That was mainly due to the fact that everyone else was lagging a bit behind to have the chance to talk with Rinse. The swarming looked a bit silly as he stood next to no one, not even his own best friend.

“I guess this is one way to get everyone to leave me alone.” He commented to himself as they neared the building. It was massive, with quite a crowd preparing to get inside. They weren’t limited to just the students either, as their were plenty of tourists and locals wanting to see the sights for a day of fun. “Here’s our school pass.” Ishi figured that everyone was going to have him be in front, so he took the important papers that they needed to be allowed in.

Once inside, they were greeted with a deep dark blue hue all over the room. The light from the exhibits flooded themselves over their faces, the floors, and the walls. Inside the water tanks were the many different varieties of sea life, such as the fish, coral, and especially the sharks.

It was time to take care of the first bit of business. That being the simple part of going through the exhibits set by their itinerary. There were many fish to learn about, but they chose the ones most likely to be intriguing to groups they were a part of.

“Come on everybody, let’s enjoy what the aquarium has to offer.” Despite not minding being the center of attention. Rinse did want to do other things than talk with the other students. They weren’t here for some simple fun, but also to learn about stuff as well.

While disappointed, the others listened to her and began to turn their attention to the fish tanks. Finally, the girl was able to catch a breather and do what she wanted to do. However, before she could take a look inside, Rinse noticed Ishi sitting on a bench. “Don’t you want to see the fish too?”

“I can see them perfectly fine here.” He answered, not turning his head to look at her. “If you want to avoid the crowd, I’d recommend sitting next to me.”

“My, have you decided to change your ways?” She asked, knowing that this was not something he would do normally.

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“Trust me, I wish we spent less time together.” He replied. “But, the less I have to hear everyone gushing about you, the better.” If she was some type of outcast, he would be a lot happier. But obviously that would never be the case, or else he wouldn’t have been annoyed by her in the first place.

“So, do you like fish?” She sat down besides him, as they watched the fish together.

“I like eating them.” He informed her. “Other than that, not really. They remind me too much of teens.”

“You really don’t like other teenagers, don’t you?” She took issue with his constant complaints about those his age. “Even though you are one.”

“The fish only know to herd together.” He pretended not to hear that. “A school… Yeah, I’d say that’s a perfect word to describe them.” The metaphor, while cheesy, wasn’t lost on her. “And then there’s some that are special. The colorful ones that always catch everyone’s eyes.” He pointed toward the group looking towards one that looked almost like a rainbow. “That’s pretty much you.”

“Oh haha.” Her fake laugh didn’t arise any feeling in him. “At least fish don’t care what the others look like.” For once, he agreed with her. “And what? Do you fancy yourself as a shark?” His harsh words and tone certainly made him seem to be a predator in the group. Especially with how someone as meek as Youna was afraid of him.

“That would imply I want to want to bother with other fish… I mean people.” He clarified a more accurate choice. “Nah, I’m more like those suckers there.” He pointed towards a fish that was away from the main school. It was hanging on the glass, sucking to seek out its food.

“Just because it’s alone?”

“And because it cleans up everyone’s mess.” When he said that, she was reminded of what he did back when their bus broke down.

“Speaking of, how do you keep knowing all these things about people?” Rinse couldn’t make any sense of it. He made it clear that he didn’t like to hang out with people, nor did he care about rumors. So why was it that he continued to surprise her, and his classmates so much? “You don’t like talking to people, so how can you learn anything?”

“Of course someone like you doesn’t understand.” He insulted her. “I know that when you’re on stage, you’re used to having everyone listen to you.” In fact, given what happened back on the bus. It was clear that this was still the case even when she wasn’t performing. “Unlike you, I’ve gotten really good at just listening.”

Indeed, as a person that no one worries about. He was able to get away with learning some rather odd truths of people. All those things people want to keep secret. Good thing it was Ishi who learned of it, someone else might use it as blackmail material. For the record, none of these things were done on purpose by him, nor did he seek them out. This was more like knowledge he picked up by just existing. “Guess that’s why I tolerate you better than most.”

“Me?” She couldn’t agree with that statement. Everyday was filled with bickering with him ever since she transferred in.

“I don’t know you that well.” He got up and stretched. “And I’d like to keep it that way.” Ishi was confident that would be true for the future as he walked away from her. After all, idols are supposed to be good at faking it, right?

“I think we’ve learned enough here.” Youna called attention to everyone. “Okay everybody, we’ve got ourselves an activity next.” Rinse got back to her feet upon hearing that they’d be on the move once more.

“And what’s that going to be?” Ishi asked as he rejoined the others. Since he was hoping to get away from this group in the first place, the boy never bothered to learn of what this plan was supposed to be.

“It’s been something I’ve been really looking forward to.” The pause by Otoya, and his tone from saying that, filled him with dread. Because things that he enjoyed never seemed to line up with most people. “We’re going to be learning how to prepare a fish!”

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